Philosophical argumentation is the process of presenting a logical and rational course of action that supports or contradicts a particular claim, opinion, or thesis. Students are therefore guided to understand the main principles of philosophical argumentation, which include the following. Logical consistency, i.e., the absence of contradictory or incompatible claims, is important because all parts of an argument must be consistent with each other. Then there is clarity and precision, because the argument must always be clear and precise, i.e. the terms and claims must be defined in such a way that it is clear what the author of the argument means. And, of course, critical thinking, the principle of which is the constant analysis and evaluation of arguments, including one's own. These and other principles introduced in the course help ensure that philosophical argumentation is rational, clear, and based on logical foundations. Adherence to these principles is key to making and evaluating strong philosophical arguments, and they are applicable to interpersonal communication. Course Content: 1. Argumentation and crisis information strategy, argumentation as a rational virtue 2. Conversion of ordinary language sentences into standard subject-predicate form 3. Making "opposite" or contradictory judgments; seminar: working with judgments and concepts 4. Introduction to constructing a valid, appropriate and convincing argument: the burden of argument in an argumentative situation, the appropriateness of direct and indirect argumentation, the general procedure of construction, finding justification 5. Constructing and using the hypothetical syllogism; seminar: constructing an appropriate argument 6. Construction of other reasoning schemes: from direct to indirect, disjunctive syllogism, dilemma, induction, categorical syllogism 7. Introduction to argument reconstruction: the meaning of reconstruction, essential content 8. Reconstructing argumentation: determining the conclusion and unexpressed elements; seminar: reconstructing argumentation 9. Argument reconstruction: simple arguments, subarguments, argument structures and the problem of connected reasons 10. Criticism of argumentation: correct order of the elements considered, assessment of the conclusion 11. Criticism of argumentation: rules for testing the validity of an argument 12. Criticism of argumentation: assessment of matter, neutralization by disjunction 13. Seminar: Criticism of argumentation
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The course will teach students the basic skills of argumentation. Students will be able to work with judgments and concepts as basic elements of argumentation (e.g., assessing the quality of definitions and logically disagreeing correctly with an opposing argument in an argumentative situation). Students will also gain the ability to justify their position with the most appropriate argumentative scheme (typically various modes of the hypothetical syllogism) as well as the ability to see, reconstruct (and thus mine) arguments and argument structure. The overarching skill in which students will use all of the previous will be the ability to critically evaluate any complex argument. Especially for distance learners, distance support is prepared in the LMS supported at UP, where distance texts, literature, audiovisual tutorials and lectures are prepared according to the nature and needs of the subject, as well as tools supporting individual and group testing of acquired competences and knowledge.
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